We May Have Seen The Last Of Robert Downey Jr. As Iron Man

Other than the revelation that the Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver are joining Marvel’s The Avengers 2: On The Move, we’ve been a little light in the super awesome comic book movie rumors and news in the past week or so. That’s why it was good that Entertainment Weekly asked the question – is this the end of Robert Downey Jr. as Iron Man?

RDJ has completed his contract as the billionaire playboy Tony Stark, and he’s not actually under contract to play Iron Man again in the Avengers sequel. Add to that the fact that Gwyneth Paltrow recently told Kevin McCarthy that she doesn’t believe there will be an Iron Man 4 – “I think we’re done with Iron Man” – and there’s not currently a fourth film on the extensive Marvel docket. So what does that mean for Avengers 2?

Downey has fulfilled all his contractual obligations to play the hero that made him a blockbuster star, and there’s currently no Iron Man 4 on Marvel’s slate, which spans the next several years. Everyone involved — including Downey himself — expects he’ll at least return for writer-director Joss Whedon’s Avengers 2 in 2015, but Iron Man 3 doesn’t exactly leave the billionaire/playboy/philanthropist that we know and love in mint condition.

I don’t get to see Iron Man 3 until tomorrow, because my plans to see it this morning were killed when Vince decided that he was taking a spa day, so I don’t know what the “controversial ending” is that EW speaks of, but I’ll reiterate my belief that this is suspense for the sake of news, in that Downey made a reported $50 million for Marvel’s The Avengers so he’d be foolish to turn down the literal assload of money that he would make for the sequel.

Fortunately, Downey told Jon Stewart that he’d be renegotiating his contract, and even though he was joking, I’m going to take it as truth because I don’t want to be sad.

These movie can’t get in the way of the rest of his awesome life, half the movie is just voice over. How long can it take for RDJ to be Iron Man in one of these movies, 6 weeks?? 50 Million Dollars?? If RDJ really wants to be Tony Stark he will be Iron Man Until he looks as old as Jon Stewart.

I’m slightly torn. On the one hand, RDJ is awesome fun, and a big part of the success of Avengers. It just won’t be the same without him.

On the other hand, Avengers was already kind of crowded, and they’re going to have to keep bringing in new characters to keep the fanboys happy (seriously, why does everybody want Coulson to become the Vision? I mean, I like Coulson, but that development would make no sense in relation to the comic character who, by the way, is lame). Having the biggest name in the team take a back seat may actually make for a better franchise.

My ideal would be for Tony Stark to take a back seat in future Avengers movies, popping in for a couple of scenes of awesomeness when RDJ wants a new yacht, and give the other characters room to breathe.

Please don’t quit being iron man! I will never watch it again if you quit, and probably so will the rest of the fans! RDJ is the best and is the only Iron Man/Tony stark! I am in love with RDJ! He makes Marvel movies so much better becuase he is just amazing. Please just stay to do Avengers 2 and Iron Man 4

I became a big fan of RDJ from when i watched Iron Man 1, Only RDJ can do the job of Iron Man and non other can fit his shoes for Iron Man. Iron man would never be the same without RJD…that is a fact! After RDJ, I don’t know if any amazing actors like him, would even want to try to reinvent Tony Stark… No one can replace him as Iron Man or Tony Stark! That would be a big mistake if you replace him.

I don’t know how they’re planning to pay everyone if the X-Men get pulled into the Avengers fold. Hugh Jackman’s getting pretty old too, and like RDJ, I can’t picture anyone else playing Wolverine. Anyhoo, I’m going to see Iron Man 3 tonight, with a bottle of Bushmill’s of course, and will treat it like RDJ’s swan song.

It’s for the best. In the first Iron Man, he got to be the only Iron Man. In the second one, he had to share the spotlight with another Iron Man. It looks like the third one has about a dozen goddamn Iron Mans. It’s pretty obvious that with escalating threats they’re just going to throw more Iron Mans at the problem. Iron Man 4 would probably have about three thousand fucking Iron Mans.

Geek fanboys can argue and complain as much as they want to about IM3. It won’t make any difference. It is STILL a monumental worldwide success and receives high critical and general movie audience praise.
Fanboys tend to think their opinion is THE opinion on genre matters. But they fail to realize they are a very small minority of the audience and critics. They talk among themselves and think, “Well of course everybody thinks this movie sucks1” But just like Spider-Man 3, Xmen 3, the Star Wars prequels, and the Transformers movies among others, Iron Man 3 is and will continue to be an enormous success and you’ll just have to live with it.